Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Apple is most desired brand in emerging markets , A survey report

Apple is a famous company of mobile phones and computers. Its head quarter is in Cupertino that is a city in Santa Clara County, California in the United States. Apple is better known as a company that invents high end technologies in the field of mobile phones, tablets and Personal computers etc. It also makes audio player under the name of iPod. It is a trend setting company and it plays and important role in the invention and introduction of capacitive touch screen displays. Apple first announced capacitive touch display in its original iPhone in 2007. After the advent of iPhone, many companies started to copy apple trends in the field of mobile touch displays.

The products of Apple are usually costly than that of other famous companies. So a large number of people in developing countries do not afford apple products for their daily life usage. Apple is well aware of this situation, So this year Apple has changed their policy and a new scheme in introduced in emerging market to grab the share. Apple has reintroduced its previous models like iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S with discounted prices. So this policy has got success and Apple products are getting popularity among the people of developing countries.

It is revealed in a new survey released by "Upstream and Ovum" that among the 4504 consumers in Brazil, China, India, Nigeria and Vietnam, Apple is the most desired brand of mobile devices.

The report shows that the 32% of those people who were include in the survey want an Apple branded mobile device.The 29% are those who want to have a smartphone or tablet manufactured by Korean electronic company Samsung. 13% among them are keen of holding out for a Nokia model. In China, where the world's largest carrier in China Mobile has recently signed an agreement with Apple to sale the iPhones, 42% want an Apple iPhone or iPad compared to the 32% wishing for a Samsung gadget.

Last year, Samsung was at the top of this list, Nokia was at second place and Apple was in third position. Despite the survey results, Android devices activated in those countries add up to 296,493 in numbers, whereas the number of iOS units activated in the same locations is 90,184 that shows a large difference.The top reason given by about half of the consumers in the region is functionality, for purchasing a specific handset. In Brazil, 22% need to trust the manufacturer while brand aspiration is important for Nigerian (23%), Indian (26%), Chinese (21%) and Vietnamese (29%) consumers.

Official statement

"The race to emerging market consumers is truly underway after several announcements from handset manufacturers, content providers and notably Facebook – all of who are developing devices or mobile content specifically for consumers in these regions. However, blindly approaching new markets without obtaining granular insights into what people in these regions actually want and acknowledging what is important to them will lead to challenges along the way. Only when each player truly understands the audience of each region – being able to answer the questions of ‘what’s affordable’, ‘what content do consumers want’ and ‘what functionality is preferred’ – will they be able to connect with the consumers they are trying to reach."

Marco Veremis (CEO, Upstream)

The survey has also disclosed that in emerging markets, 40% mobile phone users are downloading content from the Google Play Store whereas just 28% consumers are the people who do the same from the Apple App Store. For those not happy with these app marketplaces, 20% cite the lack of personal recommendations, 24% point to poor navigation in the stores, and 11% are not satisfied with the method available for payment.